Book support



y 1967 G. x. FOLEY BOOK SUPPORT Filed June 28, 1965 9mm; X515) QI gZWZrM United States Patent 3,330,524 BOOK SUPPORT Gerard X. Foley, 181 Warren Ave., Roxbury, Mass. 02119 Filed June 28, 1965, Ser. No. 467,437 4 Claims. (Cl. 248-441) The present invention relates to a book support and page marker.

The present invention is designed to be used in conjunction with a book as a support and as a page marker. It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a simple, light weight, device that may be used to support a book on a level surface such as a desk or the like. The present support is adapted for use with books of different sizes in thickness, width and height dimensions. A further object of this invention is to provide a light-weight, inexpensive book support that may be easily transported and stored. A further object of this invention is to provide a book support that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and easy to assemble. A further object of this invention is to provide a book support that incorporates into its construction a page and line indicator.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of this invention; and,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a modification thereof.

As illustrated in FIGURE 1, the book support is provided with a pair of support elements 1 and 2. Each of these elements is adapted to engage and secure the outer surface of one-half of a book cover. The supports 1 and 2 are preferably similar in construction. The construction of support 2, except as specifically otherwise indicated, may be understood from a consideration of the following description of support 1, the corresponding elements in support 2 being indicated by correspondingly primed numbers. Support 1 has a bottom leg 3, inclined forward leg 4 and rear leg 5 each interconnected to the adjacent leg. The forward leg 4 may, if desired, be formed of overlapped ends of an elongated strip of plastic material whereby the section from point 7 to point 8 of the leg comprises an overlapped section with the outer portion of the overlapped section extending downwardly to a level substantially co-planar with the plane in which leg 3 lies and with the lower end flared upwardly to form a lip 10 which is adapted to engage the bottom edge of a cover. The lower part of leg 4 may be inwardly flared or bevelled as indicated at 12. The overlapped portions of leg 4 may be suitably secured together by cement or other suitable means.

The two legs 3 and 3' of their respective supports 1 and 2 are interconnected by an interconnecting support 15. This interconnecting support comprises a pair of elongated members with one member 16 pivotally secured to leg 3 by a pin 17 and the other element 18 pivotally secured to leg 3 by pin 19. The legs or members .16 are adjustably interengaged with one another by a band or sleeve 20 which encircles the overlapped legs 16 and 18 and holds them in a sliding-faced relation to one another. The free ends of the legs 16 and 18 are flared away from one another as indicated at 22 and 23 so as to prevent the withdrawal of the legs 16 and 1-8 from the sleeve 20.

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A page-engaging member is secured to each of the supports 1 and 2. The page-engaging member 30 secured to support 2 comprises an elongated member having an arm 31 lying in facing relation to the leg 4 with this arm 31 secured to the leg 4' in sliding relationship by means of a loosely engaging band 32 which encircles the arm 31 and leg 4'. The upper end of the arm 31 is forwardly bent to form an upper portion 33 with the free end of the upper portion 33 downwardly flared into a lip 34. The lip 34 is adapted to engage the pages of a book with the lip 34 being relatively short so that pages may be easily inserted under this lip. To facilitate this insertion, the lower edge is inclined as indicated at 35. The upper portion 33 is provided with a downwardly directed low or a V-shaped section 37 that is adapted to engage and press against the upper portion of the book.

The page-engaging member 40, that is secured to support 1, is provided with an elongated arm 41 similar in construction to arm 31. The sleeve or wrapper 42 is similar to wrapper 32 and supports and secures the arm 41 in a similar fashion as wrapper 32 secures arm 31. The upper portion of 43 of the page holder is similar to the upper portion 33 of the page holder 30 and is provided with a downwardly extending V-shaped member 47. The downwardly extending lip 44 is substantially longer than the downwardly extending lip 34 of page holder 30 and preferably extends a distance of at least half the height of the support 1. These various elements are preferably formed of transparent plastic so that pages and printing appearing under them may be readily visible.

The embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURE 2 is a separable element that may be snapped over the cover of a book and may be used to index pages and lines. In this arrangement, an elongated strip of transparent plastic is formed with a leg 50 that is preferably at least four inches long. The length is dependent upon the books with which it is normally used and preferably, should extend the major portion of the page. The upper edge of this leg 50 is angularly inclined to the plane of leg 50 in a section 51. A sec-0nd section 52 extends substantially normal to the leg section 50-. The free end of the second section 50 is reversely bent to form an S-shaped section 53. This S-shaped section provides an upwardly opened U shaped element 54 and a downwardly opened or U-shaped element 55. This downwardly extending U-shaped element 55 is adapted to engage and grip a book cover so that leg 54) lies over a page of an open book. It will be noted that the plane within which leg 50 lies forms an acute angle with a plane that extends symmetrically through the inverted U-shaped section 55. In this fashion, the leg 50 will extend generally towards the page at a lower end. The holder illustrated in FIGURE 2 is preferably made of a resilient plastic material so that it may be readily engaged on books of different sizes.

As illustrated, score marks may be provided on leg 50 as line indicators. The unit of FIG. 2 may be aflixed to the side or top edge of the cover but, preferably, to the side of the front cover.

What is claimed is: V

1. A book support and page marker comprising a pair of supports with each adapted to engage and secure one half of a book cover,

means interconnecting said supports comprising longitudinally adjustable, interengaged, elongated members, means pivotally interengaging said elongated members, one each to said supports for pivoting said supports toward and away from each other, and

inverted V-shaped members connected one to each of said supports and adapted to project downwardly over the tops of the pages of a book when resting on said supports.

2. A book support as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said supports includes an inclined leg with means at the lower end thereof adapted to engage the lower edge of a book cover.

3. A book support as set forth in claim 2 having means adjustably interconnecting said V-shaped members to said supports with one leg of each of said V-shaped members slideably engaging said inclined leg.

4. A book support as set forth in claim 3 wherein said supports each comprise triangular members with said 4 inclined leg having an upwardly turned lip at the lower end thereof forming said means adapted to engage the lower edge of said book cover.

5 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 546,019 9/1895 Logan 248--48.2 1,225,642 5/1917 Jones 248449 2,554,559 5/1951 Chadwell 248-448 10 2,996,830 8/1961 Reichmuth 248-444 CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner.

CLAUDE A. LEROY, Examiner.

15 I. F. FOSS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A BOOK SUPPORT AND PAGE MARKER COMPRISING A PAIR OF SUPPORTS WITH EACH ADAPTED TO ENGAGE AND SECURE ONE HALF OF A BOOK COVER, MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID SUPPORTS COMPRISING LONGITUDINALLY ADJUSTABLE, INTERENGAGED, ELONGATED MEMBERS, MEANS PIVOTALLY INTERENGAGING SAID ELONGATED MEMBERS, ONE EACH OF SAID SUPPORTS FOR PIVOTING SAID SUPPORTS TOWARD AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, AND INVERTED V-SHAPED MEMBERS CONNECTED ONE TO EACH OF SAID SUPPORTS AND ADAPTED TO PROJECT DOWNWARDLY OVER THE TOPS OF THE PAGES OF A BOOK WHEN RESTING ON SAID SUPPORTS. 